Mayor ‘ecstatic’ that Mississauga will split from the Region of Peel
Published May 19, 2023 at 2:58 pm
The grin that engulfed Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie’s face on Thursday afternoon (May 18) as she spoke to reporters about the city’s soon-to-be independence was one that spoke to more than just a political victory earned after a decades-long fight.
There was also more than a hint of personal satisfaction, both in her appearance and words.
Shortly after the news conference at Mississauga City Hall, Mississauga’s third-term mayor, who took the reins from the iconic Hazel McCallion in 2014, sat down for an Instagram interview with insauga.com publisher Khaled Iwamura.
“I am so ecstatic. We raised a toast…with all the councillors just now,” said Crombie, whose City of Mississauga councillors stood tall behind her just moments earlier as she explained, again, why independence from the Region of Peel is the best possible move for Mississauga and its 720,000 residents.
“We are so happy. This is a long fight. Hazel McCallion may have started this, we think, 25 years ago, but at the end of the day she took issue with (former Ontario premier) Bill Davis, who created the Region of Peel because she knew the Region was created and designed to fund the growth of Brampton, Bill Davis’ home town.”
Crombie and her councillors, and McCallion and her City council members of the day, have for nearly three decades voiced their consistent argument that if Mississauga was to prosper to the full extent, it would have to at some point sever ties with the Region of Peel municipal government.
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And it appears now that day has come. The Ontario government’s Hazel McCallion Act was introduced on Thursday at Queen’s Park. If it is approved, Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon will divorce and officially become independent municipalities as of Jan. 1, 2025.
“This is a big win,” Crombie told insauga.com. “I fought three campaigns on this, but this (last) one in particular…last October, it was really part of my platform. We branded it ‘Mexit’.”
As McCallion’s handpicked successor, Crombie immediately and enthusiastically took the Mississauga independence torch in 2014, vowing on many occasions to “finish the job that Hazel started.”
Canada’s seventh-largest city, and Ontario’s third-largest, simply had to get out of a relationship with the Region of Peel that had long ago stopped working for Mississauga.
In speaking to insauga.com late Thursday afternoon, Crombie cited several reasons she believe to be responsible for the Ontario government’s, and Premier Doug Ford’s decision (see interview below) to sever the Region of Peel.
But at the end of the day, all she cared about was that it finally got done.
“So whatever it took, I’m glad it did. I’m very, very grateful for today.”
And it’s not only a political feather in her cap, but make no mistake, a significant personal victory as well.
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